Male gamers: Female avatars FTW!
by Joystiq Staff 
{ Jul 30th 2006 at 8:35PM }
There's an interesting piece over at Cnet's News.com that touches on why male MMORPG players pick female avatars as their player character of choice. While some may just choose a female to have something pretty to look at, News.com quotes a male player as saying that one of the bonuses of being a girl in game is "people give you more free stuff."
Even though some of us here at Joystiq have never noticed the trend while immersed in any particular MMO, we can see this happening among the eager-to-please MMO crowd. The story mentions that a recent About.com poll said "nearly two-thirds of the 920 respondents said they play characters of the opposite sex in online role-playing games." Of course, taking on a female role has its own unique benefits and disadvantages, as the story notes:
- THE GOOD: Gamers, both male and female, say female avatars confirm what they already knew: Being a pretty girl has its perks. Female avatars are often the center of attention and showered with gifts such as swords or armor by other characters.
- THE BAD: They also, however, get unsolicited and sometimes condescending game play advice from the thousands of mostly male players who populate the MMO universe.
[Via Slashdot]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
James @ Jul 30th 2006 9:03PM
One thing that isn't mentioned in the article is whether or not an equal amount of effort is given in designing each of the genders of any given game. If you take EVE Online as an example, facial features are noticeably more exagerrated in males than in females. If you simply want to play a realistic looking character, depending on which race you choose, you would have to default to a female avatar if you simply wanted to look presentable.
The same applies to World of Warcraft. The majority of the human male models look as if they are over 40 years of age. Most have noticeable creases and wrinkles in their face, and a disturbing number of them are bald. Considering how many 18-25 year old males must play this game, it's odd how few 18-25 year old male avatars exist.
OmegaX123 @ Jul 30th 2006 9:06PM
I find, as does an article I read once, that aside from the benefits you mentioned (eye candy and free stuff), playing a female character as a male player provides a heightened challenge level to the normally not-so-challenging side of the games (roleplaying itself). The article said the same applies to female gamers playing male characters, but being a guy, I wouldn't know.
Of course, that said, I tend to balance it out, playing a roughly-equal number of male characters to female.
007craft @ Jul 30th 2006 9:16PM
back when I played guild wars, I made a female character. I did this because Im so used to playing as a male character in every game I ever played (I never played tomb raider games before) that It was a change for once. The only other female character I have played is samus, and you cant really see anything with that suit on and whatnot.
ttr @ Jul 30th 2006 9:17PM
It's true that people want to look good in the game. Just look at the Alliance/Horde ratio, with Alliance having 'better looking' avatars and horde having 'ugly monsters'. And then just as James mentioned, a lot of the male models in WoW aren't too handsome. They all pretty much fall under the 30-40 year old rough guy look. And all the body sizes seem made for fighters. Do I want my mage looking like a buff guy with huge shoulders?
It would be interesting if they gave us more options for our characters. Why can't I make a fat character or a really old man who's hunching over as he walks? I guess it is because of gameplay. Everyone has to be equal, and it would be kind of weird seeing an old man or a fatty running around as quickly as a 30-year old hunter.
Melissapants @ Jul 30th 2006 9:54PM
I am a female that uses male avatars while playing Guild Wars.
I am not interested in your items, nor your attention (in-game). I just want to play; this is the easiest way to do so with the minimalist amount of drama involved.
I understand that video games is a male-dominated pasttime, and that females aern't even taken that seriously in many websites. I would love to see a bit more understanding in this front in general.
Guys, if female avatars in game are trying to get stuff from you, they probably aern't worth your time. But, if they're working hard to be an integral part of your guild, why can't you look past their gender and welcome them the same way you would any male member?
Who really cares what gender they are?
Keith L. Dick @ Jul 30th 2006 9:56PM
I wonder if they also *Cross Dress* while playing?... hehehehe
Shagi @ Jul 30th 2006 10:03PM
I use to play female characters in MMOs with the idea that it was more interesting to look at a female avatar while playing than a male.
I now play exclusivly male characters for 1 reason. Dudes always hit on you. And it uncomfortable to tell a guy you've been playing with for weeks that your not really a chick after hes made the plunge into thinking your a real woman. Even more disturbing than that is the fact that it probably doesn't matter to the person on the other end what sex or orientation you actually are.
It much easier just to play a dude and not have to deal with dudes.
Jared @ Jul 30th 2006 10:15PM
I play a female avatar in MMO's as the situation calls for it. Using Warcraft as an example, I'll gladly play a female human as a Priest as opposed to a male human? Why? Because human males look completely ridiculous. Do you really think someone sitting back and doing healing spells all day would be -that- buffed out?
I've never thought of MMO gender-bending as a bad thing. If anyone asks, just say you're a dude. Really, no one is going to care as long as you can play. This goes both ways.
St.Ravner @ Jul 30th 2006 10:49PM
It's nice to have eye candy for myself when playing Guild wars or something..also there seems to be more time taken in constructing female chars than male ones.
Danno @ Jul 30th 2006 11:06PM
I played a female character in Guild Wars (Mesmer, specifically, they just looked sooo much more bitchin' than everyone else, and the class was fun to play too) and I didn't get a lot of lip from other players (or free goodies). They did seem to listen to what I had to say more often though.
I *was* really dissapointed at one point in the game when the armor with the statboost I wanted looked like a freakin' nightgown though. It was embarrassing to go into combat in a nightie... I couldn't help thinking "Okay, this is going to protect me from.... what exactly? Timid boys?"
Tukka @ Jul 30th 2006 11:09PM
I played a female (human priest) in WoW for several months and was never offered any free stuff that I recall, nor can I recall ever being flirted with. I briefly played as a male (dwarven priest) on a different server and really noticed no difference either way in the way players treated me, except as the female character, I was once or twice asked if I was REALLY female.
My motivation for choosing a female model in WoW was what was basically mentioned above by others ... I didn't like the look of the human male models, they were all older and more gruff and buff looking than was to my liking. I was fooling with the character creator for the male model and I eventually was like, "screw this", and switched over to female.
Anyway, I can contrast my experience in WoW with my experience playing a female healer in GemStone III (a pay-to-play MUD) back in the day, a more role-play heavy game, I found myself comparatively showered with male attention, to the extent that I had to buy myself a wedding ring to ward off unwanted suitors.
I mostly played a male character in that game, but a few years later I tried creating another female character, and was never really flirted with. My male character got more attention from the opposite sex (or shall I say, from avatars of the opposite sex) than my female character did, though granted, I did play the male character many, many more hours.
So I'm really not sure that in this day and age, where it's known to be a common phenomenon that men play women and women play men, that there is much of a difference in the way people treat other players based on the gender of their avatar.
futurebiblehero @ Jul 30th 2006 11:16PM
This shouldn't even really be an issue by now, as anyone with half a brain doesn't come to the knee-jerk reaction that if you're a guy playing a female you either a. want money from gullible males, or b. created her to look at her boobs.
I'm a guy and my highest character in WoW is a female. I don't flirt with anyone, in fact I'm overwhelmingly cold towards any advance made at me. Yet somehow, to imbeciles, this still matters. In fact I think it even makes matters worse, because then I'm a challenge for whatever debonair IT worker that thinks he can conquer me.
In other words, the problem's not with the men using female avatars but the way female characters are treated period. When there's even the suggestion that a female is playing, you're often either contending with some misogynistic asshole trying to tell you how to play or the aforementioned type of player. After a while, it makes you want to play a male character just to avoid the drama that often finds you. I shouldn't have to go out of my way to explain why I chose a female avatar, as the blame's not mine to take. The blame is on every person who decides to treat any character differently because of their (perceived) sex.
Zeromaru @ Jul 30th 2006 11:28PM
Forgot to mention, when I do play a female character, and somebody asks me if I'm really a chick, then I always roleplay and tell them "If I'm a dude then I've got an awful lot of blood coming out my vagina." or something along those lines. I don't flirt or lead guys on or anything. Except my gnome mage, but she's just rambunxious.
Zeromaru @ Jul 30th 2006 11:31PM
With WoW, I like to balance between both genders. My main is a human male, and though I made him look as young as possible, and he still came out looking in his late 30s. My highest level alt is a nightelf female. The human male character model annoys me. He's 6'2" and VERY buff. I'm 6'0" and somewhat lanky. Not skinny, I can fill out a wife beater, but not a whole lot of fat, and enough muscle in my arms to provide definition without making them thick (in fact, my arms are rather skinny). It's ironic that the males have such exaggerated masculine features, while the females do not. The biggest boobs are found on orcs, which is only due to their increased muscle mass. Human females have childbearing hips, dwarves and taurens moreso. And that brings up the very good question... The Undead are all former humans. The females are the same height, just hunched. So how did all the males shrink?
For offline games I tend to go with female. I'm a dude in real life. One of the reasons we play games is to experience a new world. One of the fundamental things in life is our gender. It is something that we are forever stuck with, no drugs nor surgery can truly change that. So if I'm in a new world, I'll be a new gender.
Yet some still call me a pervert for rolling female so often.
Also it seems this post didn't go through and my next one did, so my previous post SHOULD follow this one... :S
Night Elve @ Jul 30th 2006 11:42PM
Well im playing Guild Wars and my two characters are Females .. why?
Because i just want be looking something pretty and mostly i like more the design of the females characters.
And well maybe some people choose female avatars to have some kind of bonus in game but i dont care about this in fact it seems pretty sad that somones actually does this.
kyou @ Jul 30th 2006 11:48PM
It all depends on the MMO, really. In WoW everyone knows that female characters are all dudes. If they don't, they're either new in MMOs or new in WoW. My WoW characters were mostly female because of what most people mentioned above. They weren't ugly and they don't look silly in robes. My main character in Lineage II was a Dark Elf male. Why? Because he was cool looking. Though, DE females have really revealing armor... so that was kind of a temptation. So far I've never gotten free goodies from people in MMOs. I mean, come on, everyone knows that in most MMOs all guys are guys and all girls are guys.
Anyways, cross-gender characters in MMOs like Ragnarok is a bigger deal. Mainly because the gender of your charater is supposed to be the same as the one as you chose for yourself in your account. And a lot of girls play Ragnarok too; so finding a cross-dresser in RO is indeed freaky. Not as freaky as guys pretending to be girls while playing CS...
Itsahill @ Jul 30th 2006 11:50PM
I usually play a female character and I have certainly noticed male gamers treating me friendlier or even giving me free items or money. Thats certainly not why I play a female though, I didn't know about it beforehand. Nor for me is it about having a purdy girl to look at (not that I don't of course), to me it just feels right as my character. My character is the same throughout all games and is always a girl. I don't have any real reason as to why, it just feels more...me.
And I'm not a homosexual before anyone wonders.
josh @ Jul 31st 2006 12:01AM
I will only play as a female when the race is human. I don't want to look at some ugly orc "woman."
mike @ Jul 31st 2006 12:16AM
Male that uses female and male avatars. I really dont get hit on too much.
Lothlin @ Jul 31st 2006 12:46AM
I am a girl, BTW.
I've played guild wars since it came out, and all I've ever played were girl characters (except in PvP, but they're temporary, and thus less important.) Thing is, in GW, the girl skins simply look better; Faces, hair, bodies, everything, just seems like more time was put into the models for the females. Hell, the girls usually get better skins for the armor as well.
I just don't want to sit there staring at a lazily designed face that doesn't even look human at times.
In regards to getting free stuff because I have a girl avatar... I cannot remember ever getting any. Not a piece since I've started. More often than not I'm reduced to dragging people on teamspeak or vent to prove that I am, in fact, of the female persuasion (and hell, they've even disbelieved me then, preferring to believe I'm a preteen boy rather than an actual female gamer.)
I really want to know what MMO has female avatars getting showered with gifts. I'd sign up in an instant ;p
Sid @ Jul 31st 2006 1:35AM
I've been playing MMOs for years and have never, EVER been overtly offered things from random people, whether I was using a male or female character. I don't actively roleplay, but I do go along with whatever I'm using. I do, however, get random "hi" messages which are a minor inconvenience at the worst.
My guess is that most people (sans the hormone-driven teen agegroup, and a few rogue others) simply know better than to try to woo somebody online with random presents, or are simply too concerned about their own progression to give something that could be useful to them away so easily.
Honestly, I play female characters in most games because they look nicer. Thing is, nobody really cares, because they probably have the same idea. Plus, it saves everybody the trouble of insecure excuses like "I picked Mithra for the stats."
Layla Sims @ Jul 31st 2006 1:46AM
Will someone PLEASE tell me what FTW means? For the while? This has been driving me batty for weeks now!
Rymix @ Jul 31st 2006 1:50AM
I like to play with ladies ;)
pockyninja @ Jul 31st 2006 1:58AM
Whatever, there are no women on teh intarweb.
Grimm @ Jul 31st 2006 1:59AM
Well, one game I can think of that actually gives you a bonus for being female is UO. In ultima online if you make a female animal tamer she can tame unicorns which males cannot. Unicorns are very useful for their high casting ability and the fact that they heal themselves. Anyone else know of any mmo's that reward female characters?
Merus @ Jul 31st 2006 2:10AM
It really depends on what MMO you're playing. On games with gender balance (meaning: actual women), and specifically mothers, the amount of gender bending goes way down.
I play two males on WoW, mostly because I intend to use Ventrilo with them and would prefer to avoid the doubletakes.
Danny @ Jul 31st 2006 3:13AM
I play for the Horde partly because I have had very bad experiences with the Alliance. The majority of the people play Alliance so it's naturally going to have the most idiots. But the real reason I play for the Horde is because I don't want to be pretty. I want to look as mean ugly and generally displeasing as possible. How in the hell do I strike fear into my enemies heart's with floppy ears? Personally I think it's much more appealing to play as an ugly character.
Beatrix @ Jul 31st 2006 3:17AM
Free stuff?
I'm a real female who always plays females, but I don't think I get any special treatment, nor do I get hit on.
Maybe I'm just an asshole?
boneyard @ Jul 31st 2006 3:27AM
im a male and usually play males, people who do things (good or bad) based on the gender of a virtual character i find rather odd though.
Niki @ Jul 31st 2006 4:25AM
Personally, I've always played female avatars because I think they look better. I'm a woman and it seems to me that most MMO's give more attention to the female models, so I pick them.
That being said, I have never, EVER gotten hit on, given free things or had someone offer unwanted advice because I had a female avatar.
John @ Jul 31st 2006 4:28AM
I'm a male, and in MMORPG's I've only (so far) played male characters, but in offline RPG's I usually play around a 70/30 split between male and female characters, respectively, just to shake things up a bit. In MMORPG's, I tend to give everyone "gifts", not just the female characters; mostly in order to help out people that are new to the game, or who have just been a big help in my party for a long time; things like that.
Although there is the occasional person who tends to hit on the female characters, I think, from what I've noticed, and that has been said above, most people just assume that the vast majority of female characters in MMORPG's are male, and it's a little immature to make it a habit of hitting on people in a game in the first place...
Syn @ Jul 31st 2006 4:38AM
http://lifeofamanthra.blogspot.com/
Kwipper @ Jul 31st 2006 5:29AM
I think the real reason why male gamers play female avatars is so they can make the avatar strip off all of their clothes, then watch them jiggle and bounce as they run around... and jerk off to it.
Oh yeah. I went there.
Myth @ Jul 31st 2006 6:54AM
That, and some people like to take off all their characters armour and run around in the nude.
*cough* Guildwars *cough*
Nate @ Jul 31st 2006 7:35AM
I play WoW and my main is a human fem. I HAVE recieved gifts and I HAVE been hit on.. more often before than now, but it still happens on occasion. I've found that if I try to help out other players with quests, items, cash, etc., they seem to automatically jump to the conclusion that I must be a real chick cause no guy can be this nice. It's odd to think that it would make a difference, but evidently it does. Anyway.. it's sorta funny to watch em get pissed when I finally get anoyed and tell em they've been hitting on a guy for the past 10 minutes. I have to say I know a lot of explitives, but I've learned some really good ones that way.
hjungle @ Jul 31st 2006 8:07AM
I've never quite understood the issue with this. I don't ever recall anyone freaking out when I'd use Chun-Li in an arcade match of Street Fighter or the guy at Comp USA twitching when I purchased the original Tomb Raider. The female characters I play regardless of the game aren't extensions of myself but just characters.
Have my characters, male and female, been hit on? Sure. But how seriously can you take some goofball hitting on your virtual characters?
YourParody @ Jul 31st 2006 8:18AM
Who would've guessed there were so many looks-oriented, effeminate male gamers on Joystiq.
Too gruff, you say? More gruff say I!
fanguad @ Jul 31st 2006 8:38AM
Gee, I don't think I've ever been described as a looks-oriented effeminate gamer before... ;)
I have a single character in FFXI, who is a Mithra. Unlike in WoW, the male characters in FFXI aren't that bad too look at, but if I'm going to spends months of my life looking at an avatar, I'd much prefer it to be female.
I've been hit on (seriously) once, and have never received items of any worth from anyone. One former guildmate of mine gave me roses whenever he saw me, but he did that with all female avatars. I've occasionally received " grabs Fanguad's butt" type emotes, usually followed up by doing it to all other female avatars.
I also agree with the roleplaying aspect. It's fun to try something different. I mainly play female character because they're pretty, but it does add an additional "what would this character do" element, instead of just "what would I do?". For example, there's a powerful end-game hat that looks really phallic. I've sworn up and down that I will not ever wear this hat because of its appearance. (we'll see how long my resolve holds out once I'm actually able to equip it)
J.Goodwin @ Jul 31st 2006 9:17AM
In MUDs I played male characters pretty much exclusively. In PSO I played female characters primarily because I gravitated pretty quick to the force classes, and the male force class looked extraordinarily goofy (pimp hat and six inch platform shoes?). I also played characters that were as small as possible because it was a third person game, and if you had a big character, you couldn't see anything. I don't recall ever being hit on in PSO.
In Oblivion I played male characters initially, but my latest character is a female orc. The choice was based exclusively on starting stats (again, I was looking for a magic using character, and the female orc is a surprisingly well balanced choice for that). Of course, in Oblivion, once you start building levels, the distinctions between your early choices go away pretty quickly, aside from the racial bonuses, which I think most people never use...
I've never played a modern MMO.
Mullinator @ Jul 31st 2006 10:14AM
I sometimes play female characters in WoW. Why? Better to look at, animations are usually of higher quality (i'm not just talking about the night elf dance either), they look better from the standpoint of things like age, and in WoW they often have more selection for things like hair styles when compared to the men.
The only problem are the morons that try flirting with you. Best way to avoid the stupid flirting is to say or do things rather early in a group that indicate your true gender. Almost always works for me.
Mark @ Jul 31st 2006 10:16AM
I would and do use female avatars because as being a male i like the look at a female character and not a male and seeing as you can spend many and i mean many hours playing these games i would rather see a woman make a spell than a really big man. NNahhhhhh i will stick with the ladies my friend.
J Ron @ Jul 31st 2006 10:25AM
Here is some more interesting information on mmorpg and gender:
http://blogs.parc.com/playon/archives/data/wow_data/gender/index.html
SuicideNinja @ Jul 31st 2006 10:54AM
Female, because the female characters or version of a race are usually just cooler looking. And in other types of games, they're fast. I'd rather have a weaker, yet fast attacking character than a strong slow character.
Phil M @ Jul 31st 2006 11:26AM
I myself usually play a male character, but I'm terrible with OOC comments and its just easier if I play as myself. One of the best explinations I've heard for gender-bending in MMORGs was from a friend in Neocron.
Paraphrasing: "Because 3rd person chase camera is so popular, you going to end up staring at the character's backside for most of the game. And if I'm going to do that, they better have a butt that I'd like to stare at."
Silver R. Wolfe @ Jul 31st 2006 1:13PM
I'm a girl trapped in a man's body. So I always play as a girl. That's why I'm ghey too. :D
OmegaX123 @ Jul 31st 2006 1:22PM
(I know this is a very delayed addendum to my previous post, but I a)didn't think about it beforehand, and b)had to shutdown for the night.)
Forgot to note in my previous post that I've never actually noticed any of the random-gift-giving when I've played a female, except occasionally in CoH/V (drive-by Insp-giving). But then again, that could be because in the beta I made my male-ness semi-public, maybe my SG from then decided to make sure others didn't fall into the "IT'S A TRAP!" Could be that the random drive-bys are newbies who don't know. Or maybe I'm just overthinking, and some of the CoH/V gamers are extremely mysogynistic (think a 'woman' can't get by without help), and others are more equality-driven.
LunarDuality @ Jul 31st 2006 2:54PM
It's funny that only one person mentioned Chun-Li. I don't really play MMOs but in other games (fighting, RPG, action) I almost alway choose female characters.
I think it started with the female character in Golden Axe II and Chun-Li in SFII. Sure, they're nice to look at, but typically, female characters were faster than the male characters. Yes, their attacks were usually weaker, but I always liked the speed advantage. So, as a result, I've just started enjoying playing as female avatars and that continues to this day, even when there is no real "advantage" either way.
BPM? @ Jul 31st 2006 3:55PM
I don't play any MMOs, unless PangYa counts as MMO Golf... And in the case of PangYa, I do use a female character.
Why? I usually go with whichever character I think has a cooler design. Between Scout (the default male character) and Hana (the default female character), I liked Hana more.
For the Pokémon games, my preferred character for Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald was May (the girl) as I liked her design over Brendan (the boy).
But for FireRed and LeafGreen, I chose the male since I liked his design more.
I guess it also depends on how they play, as well. With SoulCalibur II, my favorites are Link, Knightmare, Yoshimitsu, Talim, and Cassandra. Three males, two females (Though, how much I like them is not necessarily in that order).
Loque @ Jul 31st 2006 4:01PM
I'm a guy in RL, and my highest character is a female monk in EQ2 (maii, permafrost) I just wanted to play a monk with flowers in my hair, it's quite hilarious.
Nobody has ever flirted with me or anything like that.
Ever.
And they would be goatse'd if they tried.
Foxwind @ Jul 31st 2006 4:13PM
Female playing female characters. It's all about the aesthetics. There's just usually more thought put into the female renders. The lines are cleaner, the features are usually less exagerrated (most of the time the male features are on the extreme side of Manly and then some), and most of the armor just looks nicer. It also amuses me how most, if not all, of the female avatars swish their hips.